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Hillary Clinton's AIPAC Speech; Donald Trump to Deliver Speech at AIPAC; President Barack Obama in Cuba Aired 10:30-11:00a

Aired March 21, 2016 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[10:30:13] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you see bigotry, oppose it. If you see violence, condemn it. If you see a bully, stand up to him.

(APPLAUSE)

On Wednesday evening, Jews around the world will celebrate the Festival of Purim, and children will learn the story of Esther, who refused to stay silent in the face of evil. It wasn't easy. She had a good life. And by speaking out, she risked everything.

But as Mordecai reminded her, we all have an obligation to do our part when danger gathers. And those of us with power or influence have a special responsibility to do what's right. As Elie Wiesel said when accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, "Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

So, my friends, let us never be neutral or silent in the face of bigotry. Together let's defend the shared values that already make America and Israel great.

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Let us do the hard work necessary to keep building our friendship and reach out to the next generation of Americans and Israelis so the bonds between our nations grow even deeper and stronger. We are stronger together, and if we face the future side by side, I know for both Israel and America, our best days are still ahead.

Thank you so much.

(APPLAUSE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You just heard Hillary Clinton addressing AIPAC, the AIPAC convention in Washington D.C.

This is a powerful Jewish lobbying group filled with people who just may vote for Hillary Clinton or get out there and get others to vote for her. All the presidential candidates will be speaking before AIPAC except Bernie Sanders. He wanted to do it via video, but AIPAC wasn't so into that. So Bernie Sanders will continue to campaign out west. Of course, the next biggest guest to take the stage is GOP front- runner Donald Trump. He'll talk around 4:00 this afternoon. That's Eastern Time, and there's expected to be a little protest there as the number of rabbis will stand up and leave the room when Donald Trump begins speaking. You heard Hillary Clinton talk about the strong relationship between Israel and the United States, and she did take more than one shot at Donald Trump, although she never mentioned him by name.

Brianna Keilar was in the hall. She was listening to the speech at the Verizon Center. Hi, Brianna. What was your take?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Carol.

There were a number of times where she was hitting Donald Trump for some of his really -- he has had a number of stumbles when it comes to U.S.-Israeli relations. Certainly one of the things that she said as she was talking about -- she was talking about how there will be different visions tonight.

She said there should not be a foreign policy that would insult allies and would emboldened adversaries. She also hit Donald Trump not by name but certainly for his tone, and also for his opposition to Muslims coming in to the United States which is a ban, there was a ban on Muslims, a proposed ban on that that even the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had actually spoke out against which led to the cancellation of Donald Trump's trip to Israel. Here's some of what Hillary Clinton said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Yes, we need steady hands, not a president who says he's neutral on Monday, pro-Israel on Tuesday and who knows what on Wednesday, because everything's negotiable.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: You can see the applause there. That was a direct hit on Donald Trump who had said in February that he would like to remain neutral when it comes to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. He said he would like to remain somewhat neutral, this (ph) is (ph) in (ph) clarifying (ph), so that he could negotiate with the Palestinians. That was something that certainly this crowd here at this AIPAC conference is not in favor of to the point where, Carol, at the beginning of this conference, AIPAC leadership came out and said we have some candidates who we may not agree with in tone or in substance and urged folks here --

[10:35:10]

You mentioned about a possible walkout -- urging folks in the crowd to clap if they agree with someone, not to clap if they don't, but trying -- asking them really to be polite and not to protest what they will hear. I also thought it was interesting. Hillary Clinton invoking Golda Meir and saying we in the U.S. look at this idea of a woman leading a country and we ask what's taking us so long here. She got a lot of applause for that as well.

COSTELLO: She also, Brianna, got a number of standing ovations. One of the loudest applause lines was when she said, you know, on one of her first days in office where she to be -- were elected president, that she would invite the Israeli prime minister to the White House and -- we well know that relations are kind of strained between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu.

KEILAR: That's right. I think you could say -- it might be an understatement to say that has been a frosty relationship at times certainly and especially of late.

She did get a standing ovation for that. She also talked about Donald Trump, again, without naming by name, saying, you know, there shouldn't be a candidate or the president -- or the potential president shouldn't be someone who is encouraging violence, who is playing coy with white supremacists -- to would turn away refugees because of their religion. Talking about a ship of Jewish refugees coming back in 1939 and being turned away from the U.S. so invoking sort of the history of some of the struggles of some of the Jews who came over during World War II. But a lot of applause, a lot of support for Hillary Clinton even as she explained her support for that Iran deal, Carol, which certainly some people in this crowd -- many people in this crowd are opposed to, but they listened to her.

And overall she had a really warm reception here that we are expecting is not going to be shared, something that Donald Trump will enjoy when he comes and speaks later this evening.

COSTELLO: All right. Brianna Keilar reporting live from the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. Thanks so much.

I want to bring in some more people so we can talk about this. With me now Scottie Nell Hughes, who is a Trump supporter, Heather McGhee, she is the Washington director of Demos, a public policy and advocacy group, and James Evans, he's the chairman of Utah Republican Party. Thanks to all of you for being with me.

Scottie, I'll start with you. Donald Trump is expected to take the stage at the Verizon Center and speak before AIPAC later on this afternoon. Is it safe to say he won't get exactly a warm reception?

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, TRUMP SUPPORTER: No I don't think -- we don't know what kind of reception he's going to get. And honestly, after listening to Hillary Clinton and the standing ovations she got on points, I'm a little bit puzzled right now why they would give her standing ovations considering Israel themselves do not allow Muslims to just go freely back and forth across their borders, and Hillary Clinton was one of the key negotiators and formers (ph) of the Iran deal which Israel stood strongly against. So I have to wonder right now maybe these folks were just being polite and maybe they -- or else they --

(CROSSTALK) COSTELLO: Come on, Scottie. She got a number of standing ovations, and very loud applause. I don't think they were just merely being polite.

HUGHES: So then they've got to understand why were -- why are you going to sit there and praise this woman who has crafted together the worst deal ever possible for Israel in this Iranian deal? Why would they sit there and praise that? And why are they -- and these people are the same ones, they're not going to sit there and hold us in contempt for wanting our borders to be secure when Israel has very strong borders and knows exactly who goes in and out of their borders.

So I'm a little confused right now as to what this crowd is actually looking for in their candidate.

COSTELLO: So, Heather, what might Mr. Trump say, these things that Scottie is saying right now, would that be a safe bet?

HEATHER MCGHEE, WASHINGTON DIRECTOR, DEMOS: I think Donald Trump is going to talk about his strong support for Israel. I think he's going to, you know, talk tough about the position that he would take as president. But, you know, his base of support is really not on foreign policy. It's really on what is concerning working class Americans, and I think it's important for us to look really deeply at what exactly he would do for working class Americans.

I mean, we know that he says that wages are too high. When Donald Trump says that wages are too high here at home, he's not talking about the wealthy people who are getting large paychecks. He's talking about working class folks' wages being too high. We need to start looking a little bit past the bluster and the rhetoric to what he would actually do for our economy here at home.

COSTELLO: Heather, just in listening to Hillary Clinton's speech, what was your impression of it?

MCGHEE: You know, I think that Secretary Clinton is really in her comfort zone, very much, when she's talking about foreign policy now, when she's bringing the experience that she's had meeting with world leaders over the past administration.

[10:40:05]

And so you sort of really got the sense of that confidence. You got the sense that she was very comfortable from being a senator from New York with the crowd at AIPAC. You got a sense of confidence, which I think is important for her.

I think, you know, she's still in a tough contest, not necessarily in terms of delegates at this moment, but in terms of the hearts and minds of the Democratic base, Bernie Sanders outraised her by quite a bit last month.

COSTELLO: And James, Mr. Trump is going to speak later this afternoon. And we understand that he will have prepared remarks. He won't be speaking off the cuff as he normally does, and that his speech will be policy rich. So surely he realizes that he has to give a credible speech because he knows this is Hillary Clinton's strong point?

JAMES EVANS, CHAIRMAN, UTAH REPUBLICAN PARTY: Yes. I agree with that. But I think most importantly, as someone who is a chair of a political party, in this case, the Utah Republican Party, one of my observations has been that there is a trust deficit between voters period, whether you're a publican or a Democratic, and those who run for high office consistently.

For instance with Hillary Clinton, she gives phenomenal speeches. I have to give her that. But when you measure that against what she has done in office, that's why I think she's having difficulties even getting her own nomination at least in terms of the level of admirable support.

Yes she has the delegate count, but I don't think Democrats particularly care for Hillary Clinton. And we're suffering the same problem on the Republican side where if we don't as political parties have our elected officials and those running for high office actually deliver on what they promise, then we're going to see a revolution politically speaking that like we've never seen before. And so that's when I would advise all those who are running for high offices, what you say must be what you deliver. Otherwise, the cynicalness of the voter is just going to grow and grow and grow, and you're seeing that in this presidential election.

COSTELLO: I agree with you there, James. Hey, panel, stick around. I have got to take a break. We'll talk more on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:46:27]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO (voice-over): All right. I want to bring you back to Havana, Cuba. You can see president Obama there. He is just about to lay a wreath at the Memorial of Jose Marti, that happened moments ago.

Jose Marti was a 19th century Cuban independence hero. He was a poet and a journalist. He actually led an insurrection in 1895 against Spanish rule. Eventually he was exiled from Cuba. He spent some time in New York City among other places, and then he went back to Cuba where he died.

You can see the president honoring Jose Marti in Cuba. In just about 15 minutes the president will make history again. He'll sit down with the Cuban President Raul Castro.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. Let's talk more politics, American politics back here at home.

Today Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is expected to meet with nearly two dozen influential Republicans to try to convince them he could unify the party, but it could get a little crowded.

The source telling CNN that an anti-Trump super PAC is sending a tracker to stakeout the meeting in the hopes of getting video of exactly who is coming and going. You see, the guest list is sort of secret, and that anti-Trump GOP PAC, they want to use the pictures of whoever is participating in this unity meeting in the future against Donald Trump.

Sunlen Serfaty is covering that for us this morning. Good morning.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.

Well, this day in this particular moment is a big one for Donald Trump. As he's here in as you said in Washington D.C. to try to soothe over relations with the Republican Party. And his speech at AIPAC is such an important test for him as a candidate, really, a chance for him to potentially come off as presidential, depending on the tone he makes, and potentially even rise above the campaign trail rhetoric that he is known for.

But this also is his first real foreign policy speech, a formal address where potentially he will release more policy specifics about his Middle East policy, and he, of course, has gotten himself into some trouble as you've been discussing on air, the statement that he made on the campaign trail that he would remain neutral, be a neutral guy in terms of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something we just heard the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton slam him for. She said at that speech moments ago that Israeli security is nonnegotiable. Anyone who doesn't believe that has no business being president.

We also know that Ted Cruz -- aids to Ted Cruz, tell me that he is expected in his same speech later tonight at a same conference will slam Donald Trump over this comment. So it will be interesting to watch if Donald Trump clarifies those statements further.

We also know there will be some drama, some controversy potentially, of course, some groups have really slammed his rhetoric. We know that a group of rabbis plans to boycott Trump's speech tonight, walking out potentially in the middle of that speech. So certainly some dramatic moments could unfold tonight, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

All right. Back with me now, Heather McGhee, the Washington director of Demos, James Evans, chairman of the Utah Republican Party, and Scottie Nell Hughes, she's the national political commentator for "USA Radio Networks" and a Trump supporter. Welcome back to all of you.

Scottie, I want to start with you because, you know, there's this meeting that's going to take place in Washington D.C. between Mr. Trump and a group of Republican lawmakers and operatives and lobbyists, and they're all going to talk to try to unify the party.

[10:50:06] But then there's going to be, like, an anti-Trump PAC who's going to take pictures of people going into that meeting so they can use it against Mr. Trump politically in the future. What do you make of that?

HUGHES: How horrible does that sound? I'm actually very disappointed to hear that report, to be honest with you. Because when you think about that's all -- that's a scare tactic right there. And folks that might be attending this meeting, elected officials, to come in this meeting might not necessarily be in agreement with Mr. Trump. They might be going just to discuss or maybe to actually talk to him. I mean, he is the front-runner by far, and to sit here and try to use those tactics, it really actually makes me very sad for members of our party has become, and the folks that are supporting them. Because hat is -- does not sound like freedom of speech. It does not sound like an idea of solutions.

And I've always said as long as we're talking we can find solutions. It's when people feel that they're bullied into silence that we should become scared as Americans as to whether or not the political system is really working for us.

COSTELLO: I want to pose this question to you, James. So that meeting is going to go on with those GOP -- I don't know, trackers who are going to take pictures. Then Donald Trump is going to speak before AIPAC, and supposedly a group of rabbis are going to walk out in protest.

Utah votes tomorrow. What does Utah think of all this?

EVANS: Well, Utahans are pretty pragmatic. And we see all of this is just nonsense. It's background noise.

The question is, one of the things that in Utah that we value is integrity, and we want to know what you say is that what you're going to do. And not only that, but as a leader, are you going to look out for America's interests first, I.E. the American people? Are you going to use the power of America to advance other's interests? And I think that's where we are right now as a nation.

There's a feeling throughout this country, be it on the political left or the political right, that our political leaders have kind of left the American people out of the equation, and I think that's a fight you're seeing take place on the presidential stage. So all of this nonsense about who is tracking who, who is going to what meeting, we're so far beyond that as voters. We're just now wanting to just focus in on, what are you going to do as a leader of the free world?

COSTELLO: Let me interrupt you for a second, James, because we have a fascinating picture coming out of Cuba right now.

This is president Obama. He's walking with a contingent. And he is going to go meet with the Cuban president, Raul Castro. Of course this will be history making because, you know, not many people -- in fact, I don't think anyone alive remembers an American president sitting down with the Cuban leader. Now, the president is not going to meet with Fidel Castro. That's off the table. But he is going to sit down with his brother and supposedly he's going to talk about trade, the embargo and also about human rights violations within Cuba.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:16]

COSTELLO: All right. Take a look at these fascinating pictures out of Havana, Cuba.

This is inside the presidential building in Cuba. The president will soon -- you'll soon see the president walking by the ceremonial army, I would suppose. He's going to meet with the Cuban president. You see the photographers running so the president is soon to walk into the building.

He's about to meet with Raul Castro, the president of Cuba. History in the making here. I want to bring in Douglas Brinkley. He's a presidential historian and a history professor at Rice University, and Lisandro Perez, is an expert on Cuba. He chairs Latin-American studies in John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Lisandro, what's going through your mind right now?

LISANDRO PEREZ, PROFESSOR AND CHAIR, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Well, this is of course unprecedented. It's kind of an interesting juxtaposition to see him lay the wreath at the Jose Marti Memorial, and then have this meeting.

Jose Marti was a man who lived in this country for 15 years, in New York in fact. And he simplifies -- he actually symbolizes a lot of the duality that Cubans have towards the United States. On the one hand tremendous admiration for the U.S. On the other hand a lot of caution about U.S. relations because Marti always maintained the importance of Cuban sovereignty. And we see this here.

The Cubans, I think, have been somewhat cautious on this visit. I have been surprised that there haven't been that images of the visit transmitted over Cuban television. I was surprised that Raul Castro did not meet the president at the airport.

I think there's a duality. They want relations with the U.S., but at the same time there's this sort of caution about what U.S. relations -- better relations with the U.S. could bring for Cuba.

COSTELLO: Well Douglas, we have a complicated relationship with Cuba. On one hands Americans understand that Fidel Castro was this cruel dictator who was responsible for human rights violations. On the other hand, younger Americans, younger Cubans think, you know, why is there an embargo on Cuba? Why can't we go there for vacations? So we have this weird relationship between the two countries. DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, RICE UNIVERSITY: Yes.

History is marking this as the great Cuban fall. Since December of, you know, 2014 and throughout '15 you had President Obama trying to just get this moment that you're seeing right now.

I mean, he caught a lot of flak when he shook Raul Castro's hand at Nelson Mandela's funeral that went viral. I know for a fact President Obama has been talking regularly to Raul Castro, but this is the moment they've been waiting for. It's an olive branch of some kind, a healing from all of the cold war drama.

I was born in 1960 and I teach cold war history my whole life. It's about the two scorpions in a bottle, the United States and Cuba going at each other. Bay of Pigs and Cuban missile crisis on down, and now we're seeing a (INAUDIBLE) a complicated diplomatic initiative by President Obama, but one that I think is very historic and significant.

It's a well-planned out trip. And I think it needed to be done on a president's last year, because there's still some resentment, particularly in the Republican Party, about Obama's visit here. I certainly don't think you could do it in your first term or first years of your second term, but it's an ideal trip for the president in his last year in office.

COSTELLO: So, Lisandro, what do you suppose will happen? Because the embargo can't be lifted without Congress, right? Congress is controlled by Republicans, and they appear to show no interest in doing that. So what happens now?

PEREZ: Well, I think what the president wants to do with this visit is, in fact, move the needle. He has done almost everything he can with the executive orders and changes in regulations to try to change the policy towards Cuba and have greater openness. And the fact is that the embargo cannot finally be lifted unless Congress acts.

But I think he has nine months in office. And one of the things that he is interested in doing is precisely to legislate --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Lisandro, let's listen in to the end of our show.

PEREZ: Yes.

(MUSIC PLAYING)